Kim Jong-un Promotes Sister to Politburo

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Saturday promoted his sister Yo-jong to the Workers Party's politburo.

The politburo rules the 200-member Central Committee which controls all of the party's affairs.

Kim Yo-jong has been in charge of promoting the personality cult surrounding her brother and organizing security for him at major events.

Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho, who recently made global headlines by countering U.S. President Donald Trump with an equally bombastic speech at the UN General Assembly, was also promoted to a full member of the politburo.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (center) presides at a meeting of the Workers Party's Central Committee in Pyongyang on Saturday, in this picture published by the [North] Korean Central News Agency. /Yonhap

Choe Ryong-hae (67), a vice party chairman believed to be among the closest aides to Kim, was elected to the party's Central Military Commission.

Choe is the son of a former armed forces minister, Choe Hyon, who was a close comrade of nation founder Kim Il-sung during his days as a partisan fighter. He has had a yo-yo-ing career in the past few years, rising to the No. 2 position after Kim executed his uncle Jang Song-taek in 2013 but being packed off to a re-education camp in November 2015, only to be reinstated later.

Kim Yong-hyun, a North Korea expert at Dongguk University, said, Choe has once again risen to become Kim's "right-hand man."